A very happy New Year to you all. We hope that the year has started well, with refreshed energies and collaborations as we continue our work together in the HE spaces.

Here at The Consent Collective conversations, training, content creation and new projects and partnerships are all well underway. It feels like 2023 has started positively for many, certainly, in the conversations we're having there has been some wonderful progress and developments in the HE space and we look forward to a great collective year together.

In this edition of the HE Peer Network newsletter, we focus on the theme of Trauma and Wellbeing. With so many conversations, resources and directions around these topics, we hope that the conversations and ideas we share here are a useful addition for you.

Cynthia Ellis, Co-founder The Consent Collective

Feature article: Student and staff wellbeing. Are we asking the right questions?

In this newsletter we're showcasing a conversation between The University of Edinburgh's Dr Mark Hoelterhoff (Lecturer in Clinical Psychology) Lauren Byrne (VP Welfare) and Dr Nina Burrowes (Consent Collective).

In this recent conversation, Nina talked with Dr Mark Hoelterhof and Lauren from The University of Edinburgh about trauma, well-being and mental health. They explored the questions that may be useful to consider as we think about the part that universities play in the care of students, whilst keeping the centre on education and growth.

Photo: Dr Mark Hoelterhoff, Lecturer in Clinical Psychology

Photo: Lauren Byrne, VP Welfare

Photo: Dr Nina Burrowes, The Consent Collective

This conversation was part of our 'Collective Thinking' series. The full video 'Student and staff wellbeing. Are we asking the right questions?' can be watched using the link below:

Learning from the questions we get asked

In this section Nina answers some of the questions we regularly get asked at The Consent Collective.

What does it mean to be 'trauma-informed'?

If we describe an event or lesson as 'trauma-informed' what it ideally means is that an understanding of trauma has informed every aspect of the design - from invitation through to the space itself, the way the session works and what happens afterwards. It means that there's an appreciation that some people may arrive in a hyper-vigilant state, or experience this at times during the session. It means that 'consent' is at the heart of the design so that people can navigate the space, material and other people in a way that suits their current state. It also means that the people holding the space are able to do so from a state of self-regulation so that they can be a calming energy in the room and they're able to understand behaviours such as 'acting out' or a lack of willingness to engage through an understanding of trauma responses. Being trauma-informed is applied. It's not about simply having a theoretical understanding of trauma, it's about the actions you take to apply that learning to the spaces you're creating. 

We have some students who have been reported for sexual harassment and the complaint against them has been upheld by our investigation. What support or resources can we refer these students to so that they can better understand their behaviour?

I think this is the next large area of work for universities to get to grips with. It's a natural part of the progression of the work. Once reporting systems and investigations are improved of course you'll end up identifying students who may perpetrate more harm on campus. At the moment there aren't a great deal of resources for this. Stop it now! is one of the few places you can refer people to but it won't be appropriate for everyone. Whilst it may feel tempting to take a sanctions-based approach with these students, sanctions alone are not going to have a positive impact on their behaviour. At the moment we offer a few video resources on Consent Collective TV, but the next step for this work is definitely a fairly intensive learning and group experience for students. We don't have that yet, but it's on the distant horizon of our work so get in touch if you'd like to be kept informed as things progress. 

If you'd like to submit a question to feature anonymously in a later newsletter please email your question to cynthia@consentcollective.com

Want to discuss these questions and more? Join us at our next online gathering:

Updates from the network

This is where you get the chance to be updated on events, new resources, ask questions of the network or share in some good news.

Organisations you may want to connect with

Higher Education Sexual Violence Support Services Network

A note from Amy Thompson at the University of Cambridge regarding this network

This is a specialist network for ISVAs/SAHAs/Practitioners providing frontline support to student survivors of sexual violence in Higher Education. The network is there for developing and sharing effective practice, resources and discussing challenges. We have a termly meeting (plus one in the Summer) to check in with each other and talk about issues that have been coming up in our universities. The aim is for it to be collaborative, so I very much encourage people to contribute to the agenda and volunteer to chair/minute take the meetings. We have recently started having themes and speakers at each meeting, in October we had Katrina Daoud from Nottingham Trent who told us about their fantastic consent workshop programme and then in January our theme was domestic abuse and we had professionals from Durham University, University of Warwick and University of Manchester sharing their knowledge and experience on domestic abuse, including honour-based abuse and forced marriage.

To join the network email heather.williams@admin.cam.ac.uk who can add you to the jiscmail list. Or you can request to join via this link (the list name is ‘ISVA’)

Please submit any updates you'd like to share

We're looking forward to including your submissions in later newsletters. Please email your updates to hello@consentcollective.com.

Our next newsletter will be out on: 28 March 2023

Deadline for submissions is: 21 March 2023

Future dates for your diary

Save these dates and we'll share further details throughout the year:

9th Feb 2023 (10.00 - 11.30) Theme: Trauma and wellbeing

6th July 2023 (10.00 - 11.30) Theme: Sharing lessons across education sectors. Joint peer group with colleagues from the FE sector.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Resources to help you with the work

Would any of your colleagues like to be part of this network? Please feel free to forward this email to them, or direct them to this page where they can sign up: consentcollective.com/hepeernetwork

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